Friday, October 08, 2004

Retrospect

Alfar's story, which was published in Strange Horizons last year, is excellent: no ifs and buts about it. It makes me wonder if I'm mistaken in the direction of my stories lately.

Studying Alfar's story as a fantasist, his prose is evocative and lyrically wonderful that it can draw comparisons to fantasists Elizabeth McKillip, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Jeff Ford. However, I would say that Alfar's style is par for the course in local literature like, say, the late grand old man Nick Joaquin:

The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du'l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she'd first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.

Yes, I also know this is also the style of South American writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges and Angelica Gorodischer. And yes, I know inherent here is the magical realist link but I can't remember at the moment which way it flows.

I admit: I'm way out of my depth here. (I graduated with a degree in Political Science in college, not Literature!)

However, a look at Alfar's link to a local literary website has his story changed to a drama play: "When the Ispancialo had been in Hinirang for sometime/But also when wonder was strong/Legends were true/And memories were still being made." (Reminds me of Gamalinda's award-winning novel, My Sad Republic actually.) Likewise, the link doesn't state a date of publication of the play.

It is these changes that made me wonder whether in the story's publication in Strange Horizon, changes were made to fit the requirements of international viewership (or whether it was the other way around).

For example, in comparing terms, I can see that Palao'an and Siqui'jor are really the provinces of Palawan and Siquijor but without the dreaded apostrophes feared and abused in fantasy writing circles.

But I don't know the author so I really shouldn't put assumptions where there aren't any.

What was I trying to say anyway? That train of thought has come and gone without me the wiser, dammit...

Dies: Words

Quotes

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ALBERT EINSTEIN

I am still shocked that so many people are not more creative, by which I mean more demanding of themselves. The main question we need to ask ourselves is: Do I try to be necessary to the evolution of language? Do I try to be original? And being original means using the tools necessary to be original, not just having the desire to be original. PIERRE BOULEZ

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death....Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. BERTRAND RUSSELL

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. FRANZ KAFKA

Obviously, then, I think a good critic in any field is a useful citizen, who is positively obliged to be harsh toward bad work. By a good critic, I mean a man with a good ear, a love for his field at best, and a broad and detailed knowledge of the techniques of the field. JAMES BLISH